Robert L. Gallucci
Dean, Edmund A Walsh School of Foreign Service
Georgetown University
Robert L. Gallucci began as Dean of Georgetown University's Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service on May 1, 1996. He had just completed twenty-one years of government service, serving since August 1994 with the Department of State as Ambassador at Large. In March 1998, the Department of State announced his appointment as Special Envoy to deal with the threat posed by the proliferation of ballistic missiles and weapons of mass destruction.
Dr. Gallucci began his foreign affairs career at the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency in 1974. In 1978, he became a division chief in the Department of State's Bureau of Intelligence and Research. From 1979 to 1981, he was a member of the Secretary's Policy Planning Staff. He then served as an office director in both the Bureau of Near Eastern and South Asian Affairs (1982-83) and in the Bureau of Political-Military Affairs (1983-84). In 1984, he left Washington to serve as the Deputy Director General of the Multinational Force and Observers, the Sinai peacekeeping force headquartered in Rome, Italy. Returning in 1988, he joined the faculty of the National War College where he taught until 1991. In April of that year he moved to United Nations Headquarters in New York to take up an appointment as the Deputy Executive Chairman of the UN Special Commission (UNSCOM) overseeing the disarmament of Iraq. He returned to Washington in February 1992 to be the Senior Coordinator responsible for nonproliferation and nuclear safety initiatives in the former Soviet Union in the Office of the Deputy Secretary. In July 1992, Dr. Gallucci was confirmed as the Assistant Secretary of State for Political-Military Affairs.
Dr. Gallucci was born in Brooklyn on February 11, 1946. He earned a
bachelor's degree from the State University of New York at Stony Brook,
followed by a master's and doctorate in Politics from Brandeis
University. Before joining the State Department, he taught at Swarthmore
College, Johns Hopkins School for Advanced International Studies and
Georgetown University. He has received fellowships from the Council on
Foreign Relations, the International Institute for Strategic Studies,
Harvard University, and the Brookings Institution.
He has authored a number of publications on political-military issues,
including Neither Peace Nor Honor: The Politics of American Military
Policy in Vietnam (Johns Hopkins University Press 1975). He received the
Department of the Army's Outstanding Civilian Service Award in 1991, and
the Pi Sigma Alpha Award from the National Capital Area Political
Science Association in 2000. He is married to Jennifer Sims; they have a
daughter and a son.
Nuclear Power and Nonproliferation: Some Things Never Change…Other Things Do
"The nuclear debate hasn't changed for years," Dr. Robert Gallucci
told his Battelle audience, during his July 26th presentation for the
Pacific Northwest Center for Global Security. Currently Dean of
Georgetown's School of Foreign Service, Dr. Gallucci has spent 21 years
with the State Department, during which he served as Ambassador at
Large, Special Envoy, division chief of the Bureau of Intelligence and
Research, and helped to negotiate the Agreed Framework with North Korea.
Dr. Gallucci's seminar speech touched upon several issues concerning
nuclear power and the threat of proliferation. He also described the
present challenges in implementing the Agreed Framework.
Dr. Gallucci began his presentation by stressing the link between
nuclear energy and nuclear weapons, and highlighting some of the larger
debates over nuclear energy. Debates included whether nuclear fuel
should be reprocessed, if the United States should use its influence to
discourage fuel recycling, and the benefits of direct disposal and
treatment of plutonium to reduce the threat of plutonium diversion from
the Former Soviet Union. Dr. Gallucci presented the different sides of
these debates, encouraging new thinking with regard for current energy
and security considerations.
In addition, Dr. Gallucci discussed the efficacy of current nonproliferation mechanisms. More specifically, he addressed the recognized limits of the Nonproliferation Treaty and International Atomic Energy Agency in preventing proliferation. Referring to the debate over the applicability of nuclear energy knowledge to the creation of nuclear weapons programs, he pointed out that "after the first five nuclear states detonated their devices, all nuclear weapons programs have used their nuclear energy programs as a cover (while pursuing nuclear weapons)." He cited the examples of North Korea, Pakistan, India, South Africa, Brazil, South Korea and Taiwan. He also noted that cross-border theft of reactor fuel for the purpose of creating nuclear weapons programs is without precedent, suggesting that an Agreed Framework-inspired model for pursuing nonproliferation be applied to other regions like East Asia and, eventually, the Middle East, in the struggle against proliferation.
Dr. Gallucci also spoke of the advantages of a "tried and true vanilla reactor," suggesting that one could be jointly pursued by the U.S. government and private industry. Such a reactor and an accompanying "vanilla fuel cycle" would help to mitigate global climate change, Gallucci explained, suggesting that now is the "window of opportunity" for those promoting nuclear energy. The ability to produce safe nuclear power wo
ld increase the public acceptability of replacing the dangers of
carbon dioxide emissions with the risks of reactor accidents, and would
greatly contribute to energy security.
Dr. Gallucci ended his presentation with his commentary on
implementation of the Agreed Framework with North Korea and the
importance of engaging the nation. He stressed the difficulty in
projecting the regional impact of the Korean Peninsula Energy
Development Organization's (KEDO) involvement with North Korea due to
the fact that the country's "grand plan" is unknown. Primarily, it is
not clear whether North Korea has pursued a nuclear weapons capability
for offensive or defensive purposes, and nobody knows whether the slight
opening of the country during the Agreed Framework negotiations and
implementation has served to strengthen Kim Jong-Il's power, or weaken
it. "There is no free lunch in dealing with North Korea," Dr. Gallucci
insisted, acknowledging the difficulty in working with the nation and
its reclusive and eccentric leader. "The sooner we realize this, the
better… We must adopt new policies, which will only be found through
negotiations."